Saturday, April 9, 2016

Lots of Little Birds

Lots of little birds have been coming for the sunflower seeds. I think we may be getting 100-200 at some times. It's hard to count birds when they are on the ground as well as up in the treetops. The flock is made up of goldfinches, common redpolls (above), pine siskins, and purple finches. I didn't see any purple finches this morning, but yesterday afternoon I saw 6-8 on the line waiting for the feeder.

At the bottom of this photo is a pair of redpolls. The female has a red head but no red on her breast, the male has a red head and also a bright red front.

From a distance, the female redpolls look a lot like the pine siskins as both have very striped bodies.

A closer look reveals some yellow at the base of the wing feathers of the pine siskins (three on the left). On the right, a goldfinch is almost in its summer colour. The pine siskins also have thinner, pointier beaks than the redpolls which have a typical conical finch beak.

Don't they look pretty on the snow?

Lots of cheeping to go along with the feeding activity.

We have been throwing seed on the ground for them as well as filling up the feeders.

The chickadees and woodpeckers still come to the feeders, and this morning we had a couple of Bluejays.

Here's a little video of the birds swooping in around me. Quite fun to have them flying about. I like the sound of their wings as they flutter by.
The pine siskins are bold and don't mind you being amongst them.

1 comment:

Oh all the birds are so pretty but I want to come there and gather them all up and bring them home here to my island. It is so warm here and lots of food for them. It is just hard to see them in the snow.